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"We would like our main players to rest before the upcoming T20 World Cup" : Mohammad Rizwan

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"We would like our main players to rest before the upcoming T20 World Cup" : Mohammad Rizwan

Mohammad Rizwan speaking to the press:

"We don't usually see a Test match which takes the direction of a T20 game as did the 1st Test against the West Indies; Our boys worked very hard in this game"

"When talking about the WTC, let me say its more important to see how we finish the Championship rather than worry about how we start it; Last time we didn't do too well but this time we have made a plan to do better and improve ourselves as there are 12 more matches in this, and hopefully we will do better in this Championship"

"For the last 9-10 months we have been playing cricket on a regular basis and the amount of cricket has increased, and living our lives and playing cricket in a bio-secure bubble is very tough"

"The next big event for us is the ICC T20 World Cup and all our eyes are focussed on that tournament, so all of us main players would like to rest ourselves mentally for the upcoming main event"

"So by resting ourselves for the ODIs, that will help us it will give rest to our bodies and also will be a good opportunity for our bench players"

"Looking at the effort of in the first match of the series, you will see that we came in with the aim of winning the series but unfortunately, the result did not go our way; We were a little unlucky and also made same mistakes in our fielding but no one can say that we played with low energy or stopped believing in ourselves"

"The next game is very important for us - we won the T20I series and we will with the Almighty's help level this series also"

"It seems that one way or another, we seem to let the match slip away from us whenever we are playing outside Pakistan. Apart from the Manchester Test, we also took the game to to the end in the 1st Test in New Zealand and I am happy to say that we are doing somethings right as we did against South Africa and Zimbabwe. Even here we have gelled well as a team but there are issues with our fielding which we will fix; We will work on our mistakes and weaknesses and not disappoint our nation"

"Our openers have performed well in the past but if you ask me, I say that we are playing just 2 Tests in every series in recent times whereas before we used to have 3 or 5-match series; When you play such few Tests in a series, its not that easy to build-up a consistent team and so we really need to back our openers who are not performing to the level we are demanding from them"

"But to be fair, given the nature of the pitch where scores are not that high, we need to properly assess how good our openers have been in such conditions. When the whole side is being bowled out for 180 odd, then we need to think carefully about how we judge the performances of each player and see how well they have done in the role they were given"

"Sometimes depending on the pitch condition, we have to decide on what is the best score on this and score at that rate although this is no excuse for not scoring runs. In the first innings, though, I felt that we could attack and fight ourselves out of that situation but I was a little unlucky in doing that. I will hopefully at some time play a long innings also"

"Although I do like to play under pressure, there is always pressure when you are playing a captain or vice-captain. Whenever Babar needs it, I go to him and offer my advice. The pressure, to be honest, should be only on Babar as he is captain and he is doing well and handling the pressure at key moments. He may be feeling it inside himself but he has never shown it on the outside"

"Our middle-order is very good in Tests with Babar Azam and Fawad Alam who are doing well in ICC Rankings. We also have Azhar Ali who is helping out players but obviously collapses can happen in Tests. If we are talking about middle-order in T20s then we all know the issues there but we are working on this and trying out ways to fix this before the T20 World Cup"
 
So Sarfraz will bat the Afghanistan Series. I am looking at a few surprise selections. Wahab will also come back and main players will miss out on their spot.

I’m looking forward only if we select Kashif and see what he gives us. But most likely TTF XI will be presented to us.

Asif Afridi is another that could be tested vs Afghanistan.

I would select

Sharjeel
Fakhar
Maqsood
Saud Shakeel
Sarfraz
Shadab
Imad
Wasim Jr
Hasnain
Qadir
Haris Rauf

That’s what we will probably get.
 
With Rizwan getting rested, its likely Sarfaraz will get his chance. I would have liked to see someone else, but the management want to give Sarfaraz a opportunity.
 
Life in bio secure bubble can be tough, but I also hope Pakistan understand that these games decide the direct qualifiers for 2023 WC. They've already lost 5 of their 9 games and if the Afghans win this series then Pakistan will also be in danger like Sri Lanka.
 
Last time also during 2019 CWC main players were rested for series against Aus and then they all come together to play in the England series where the bowlers couldn’t find any rhythm and it took more than 7 matches from the rest to get them in groove.

This is indeed a failed approach which they didn’t learnt any lesson from it.

They need to regularly rest the main players to keep them afresh. Playing them in home series against Zimbabwe and an away series in Zimbabawe is no excuse, there was enough room to give chances to young and bench players and rest the main players , now coming up to the WT20 in a months time where main players need to be in good rhythm and fitness , every main player want to take some rest.
 
Do we even have some bench strength that can be tried? Our talent reserves are at an all time low.
 
Firstly it would be a much needed rest for the regular players due to so much cricket and bubble fatigues. Secondly there are only two ways to develop you bench and backups, one is A team tours (Not much happening now due to Covid), second is giving them opportunities against slightly less strong opponents. Pak has missed opportunities previously to test players so its good that it is happening now.

Yes winning is always important especially now with ODI league structure but, resting your main players and testing out bench is important as well in the long run.
 
So the chances of getting beaten by Afghanistan for the first time increase.

Don't forget that Afghanistan have some very good spinners in their ranks and on those wickets they will be lethal. Need those points for the ICC super league.

Really don't see why batsmen need to be rested after a rain watching tour.
 
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Really don't see why batsmen need to be rested after a rain watching tour.

Have been almost living in bubbles for a year or so now. Also especially in professional sports at this level mental fatigue can take a toll on you as well just like physical fatigue. So I think workload management becomes extremely important to get optimal results out of your main players.
 
What rest? They haven't played as much cricket lately and rest is needed? Seriously
 
All sides are taking care of their players before the T20 WC - good if Pakistan doing the same.
 
Is this officially announced that Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen and Hasan will rest. If so then finally misbah will be forced upon testing some players, gives Dahani a good chance especially as for batsman for ODI the cupboard is very bare, saud everyone keeps mentioning is more suited for tests but there is not much else and more importantly who will captain?
 
Is this officially announced that Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen and Hasan will rest. If so then finally misbah will be forced upon testing some players, gives Dahani a good chance especially as for batsman for ODI the cupboard is very bare, saud everyone keeps mentioning is more suited for tests but there is not much else and more importantly who will captain?

Shadab Khan will definitely captain
 
Good Decision from the management to rest thier core players however they must pick players who haven't had a chance before such as dahani,Abdullah shafique,rohail nazir it will defeat the object if they pick players who are tried and tested or who are on thier last stages of thier career.
 
Rizwan when I asked him about our openers.

"Our openers have performed well in the past but if you ask me, I say that we are playing just 2 Tests in every series in recent times whereas before we used to have 3 or 5-match series; When you play such few Tests in a series, its not that easy to build-up a consistent team and so we really need to back our openers who are not performing to the level we are demanding from them"

"But to be fair, given the nature of the pitch where scores are not that high, we need to properly assess how good our openers have been in such conditions. When the whole side is being bowled out for 180 odd, then we need to think carefully about how we judge the performances of each player and see how well they have done in the role they were given"
 
Mohammad Rizwan and Faheem Ashraf helping Alzarri Joseph when he felt something had gone into his eyes

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Ok thanks. What’s your take on the replacements of the rested players? I wouldn’t mind seeing Imran Khan make a return I thought he was pretty consistent last time throughout the psl, was attacking the stumps and bowling wicket to wicket.
 
Bad news for the fringe guys - they must have had their hopes up for the Afghanistan series.
 
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